5 January 2022
Issues that matter
Covid’s third wave: In the second wave in Delhi, going from 500 to 4000 daily cases took 18 days, while in the third wave, it took just 5 days; In Delhii, occupancy on oxygen & ICU beds with ventilators rises by 5 times in a single day; In Mumbai, omicron is spreading like wildfire among medical staff; 25% of St George’s 650 doctors currently Covid positive; About 30% of cases continue to be Delta variant
Myth of health coverage by PM health yojana: India‘s flagship health insurance scheme failed its poorest during pandemic; Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) provided cushion to only 14.25% people hospitalised for COVID-19
Modi government makes it easier to pollute: UltraTech, India’s largest cement company, has violated mandatory air pollution measures for 5+ years; Now environment ministry is keen to ease those measures citing ‘ease of implementation’
Import duty evasion by Xiaomi: Chinese phone maker Xiaomi's India unit has been slapped with a Rs 653 crore notice for alleged evasion of import duty
Criticizing government corruption now costly for the famous: Comedian Kapil Sharma had once tweeted at Prime Minister Modi, bringing to attention some petty municipal corruption; he was hounded and had to leave the country for a few days